While a large part of what I do at physio is centered around building up my strength, another vital part is improving my mobility and functionality in my everyday life. On Friday we made a list of everything that I was still having difficulty with or am not able to do at all "out in the community" or around my apartment. Amongst other things, grocery shopping was on that list. While many of the items from the list can be simulated in the clinic, like improving balance on the subway/bus or practicing stairs, we couldn't come up with anything to help improve my ability to do my own grocery shopping short of actually going to the grocery store. Field trip!
My physiotherapist and I have become good friends over the past 4 months. I am truly thankful for how well we get along. This not only makes for more enjoyable physio sessions but also means there have been times where she's definitely gone above and beyond her roll as my physiotherapist. Case in point, how many of you have ever gone grocery shopping with your physio?
We figure I can probably take a cab to get home from the grocery store and if I tip well, hopefully the driver will carry my grocery bags the 10 feet to my door. The question that still needed answering was whether I could manage the shopping on my own, buying more than just what my backpack can hold. We had one "rule", I was to do everything on my own. Even though she was there with me, unless something provided to be completely impossible, she was not going to help me. Not even a little bit.
The shopping cart was the key to making this a success. Unfortunately I haven't been in a single store since being back in the city where they've had electric shopping carts. If there was a grocery store nearby that had an electric cart I wouldn't consider shopping a challenge. But regular shopping cart it is. Once I had a cart, I traded in my crutches (I put them in the cart) and used the shopping cart much like a walker. This proved to be quite manageable. As long as I could get close enough to the item I wanted I was able to grab it and put it in the cart. It was a little challenging in busier areas of the store, like produce, where I couldn't always get right up next to what I wanted. But I made it work.
The only other slightly difficult part of the whole trip was unloading my cart at the checkout. I moved around to the front of the cart and had no problem unloading the bottom section. It was the couple items I had in the small top section of the cart that were difficult to reach. I was laughing at myself as I stretched to get the last couple items. It was quite entertaining. My physiotherapist was laughing too. At the same time, she felt kind of bad not helping me but she wasn't "allowed". That would defeat the purpose of our experiment / outing. After the cart was empty I grabbed my crutches so I could walk around 'normally' again. Then came what I think was my favourite part of the whole experience.
Once I had my crutches and was chatting with my physio, the lady standing in line behind her goes "ooohh she's on crutches". She went on to say she had been thinking, "is she really THAT awkward?" It was pretty funny. Once she knew I was on crutches and not just super awkward, you could tell she was wondering why my friend wasn't helping me than. We felt the need to explain how I was trying to do everything as if I was shopping by myself and that she was my physio, not just a terrible friend.
Overall everything went smoothly. No major difficulties. Afterwards I did have what felt like a bruise on both forearms close to my elbows from where I was leaning on the cart. I had the same thing just below my ribs as well. I will admit to putting my full body weight onto the handle of the cart and gliding down a couple of the isles with one big push off my left foot. If you're picturing the way kids often "push" the cart to make shopping more fun, that's pretty much exactly what I was doing. Maybe with just a bit more caution.
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